THE YELLOW PINE 
lOI 
is very marked in a forest of these trees, 
the grain of trunk and branches being 
often seen coiled into the closest possible 
spiral. 
The bark of the Yellow 
General Features. _ . . r i ■ i 11 
Pine IS of a light yellow 
or reddish-brown in the younger trees, 
becoming nearly black when old, and 
deeply ridged and grooved. By these 
irregular channels it is divided into flakes 
which measure from a few inches square 
to large plates 12 to 18 inches across, 
several feet in length, and 3 to 4 inches 
thick. The strange appearance of these 
flat, smooth plates enable one to dis- 
tinguish the trunk of this tree at a con- 
siderable distance. Upon old trees this 
thick layer of bark is made a storehouse 
for acorns by the woodpeckers, and it 
is a common thing to see numbers of 
these trees having their bark cut into a 
honey-comb by thickly-set holes as 
large as thimbles, or as thickly set with 
the inserted acorns. The colour of the 
leaf is a dark yellow-green, 5 inches to 
more than a foot long in some forms, 
and the appearance of the leaf-clusters 
as great tufts at the ends of the naked 
branches, give to the smaller ones a 
beaded look unlike that of any other 
western Pine. The main branches are 
stout and divided over and over again, 
and, though drooping, are generally 
tilted upwards towards the end in a way 
that adds to the distinct appearance of 
the tree. The smaller branches, and 
especially the central shoot in young 
trees, are deeply marked with the scales 
of the fallen leaves, and often closely 
resemble the leaf-scars of fossil trees of 
the coal period. If broken across these 
younger branchlets are fragrant as with 
the strong pungency of orange-peel, 
while their bark is orange-coloured or 
pale bright red, though 
in old or stunted trees it 
becomes dark. The male 
flowers are peculiar for 
their great length, often 
measuring 3 to 5 inches, 
and forming large red- 
dish rosettes about the 
bud, or the few leaves at 
the ends of the male 
branchlets. The cones 
are mostly from 3 to 6 in- 
ches in length (but some- 
times nearly twice this 
size), oval in shape, with 
the bosses of the scales 
bearing small hooked 
spines or prickles. They 
hang singly or in clusters of from 2 to 
5, mostly at the ends of the smaller 
branches, and may be bright green or 
purple, the two colours sometimes oc- 
curring upon trees growing side by side, 
but oftener in distinct groves of one 
colour. They stand erect while young, 
falling gradually to the horizontal when 
fully grown, and never drooping as in 
most of the Californian Pines. When 
fully ripe they break and fall, leaving 
